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THE PROCLAMATION AND WITNESS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God; in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the territories of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysnias tetrarch of Abilene, and while Annas and Caiaphas held the high priesthood, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah, in the desert. In due course John the Baptist appeared; he proclaimed this message in the desert of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.” This was the man spoken of by the prophet Malachi when he said, “Look, I shall send my messenger to clear a way before me.” 3:1 The prophet Isaiah also had said, “A voice cries, “Prepare in the desert a way for Yahweh. Make a straight highway for our God across the wastelands. Let every valley be filled in, every mountain be leveled, every cliff become a plateau, every escarpment a plain; then the glory of Yahweh will be revealed and all humanity shall see it together, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.” 40:3-5 This man John wore a garment made of camelhair with a leather loincloth around his waist Kings 1:8 and his food was locusts and wild honey. He went through the whole Jordan area proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole Jordan district made their way to him, and as he baptized them in the river Jordan, they confessed their sins. However, when he saw a number of Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism he said to them, “Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming retribution? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not presume to tell yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father,” because I tell you, God can raise children for Abraham from these stones. Even now, the axe is being laid to the root of the trees, so that any tree failing to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire.” When all the people asked him, “What must we do, then?” he answered, “Anyone who has two tunics must share with the one who has none, and anyone with something to eat must do the same.” There were tax collectors, who came for Baptism, and these said to him, “Master, what must we do?” He said to them, “Exact no more than the appointed rate.” Some soldiers asked him in their turn, “What about us? What must we do?” He said to them, “No intimidation! No extortion! Be content with your pay!” Now, this happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing. A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to wonder whether John might be the Christ. This was the witness of John when the Jews sent him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him. “Who are you?” He declared, he did not deny but declared, “I am not the Christ.” So, they asked, “Then are you Elijah?” He replied, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” Now those who had been sent were Pharisees, and they put this question to him, “Why are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the Prophet? Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?” So he said, “I am, as Isaiah prophesied: A voice cries, “Prepare in the desert a way for Yahweh. Make a straight highway for our God across the wastelands. Let every valley be filled in, every mountain be leveled, every cliff become a plateau, every escarpment a plain; then the glory of Yahweh will be revealed and all humanity shall see it together, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.” 40:3-5 In the course of his preaching John declared before them all, “I baptize you in water for repentance, but standing among you - unknown to you - the one who comes after me, is more powerful than I am. I am not fit to kneel down, undo the strap of his sandals, and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand; he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.” (Isaiah 41:14-16) In addition, he proclaimed the good news to the people with many other exhortations too. Return